Single family house Archives - Page 3 of 5

1 November 2017

De la Roche residence

A couple with two young children wish to transform a duplex located in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie into their principal family residence. The project consists in reorganizing the original portion of the house and enlarging it with an extension in the yard while preserving the façade on the street as required by the city bylaws. Suspended above the dining room, a grey angular volume sheltering the master bedroom cantilevers out over the garden terrace. For more intimacy, a pair of steel blades unfolds in front of two large panes of glass over the garden façade filtering the views from the neighbours and modulating the natural light coming into the living spaces. Wishing to create an effect of depth on the garden façade, two tones of colours are used; one gray tone for the suspended volume covered in fibrocement boards and an other in copper for the windows, steel blades and the patio door in the...

4 May 2017

by Giovanni Guillabert

Somerville residence

A couple with two young children wishes to renovate a row house dating back to the 1970s. Being part of a set of rowhouses designed uniformly, no changes were brought to the exterior appearance of the house. Contained within a space of 16'-0 '' wide by 47'-0 '' in length, the residence is organized on 4 levels including the basement. The entire layout of the rooms has been completely reconfigured according to the new needs of the clients. An existing triple-height void topped by a skylight illuminates the heart of the house. A new staircase with a guard composed of black painted steel tubular sections emphasises the verticality of triple height space. A white wall cladded with painted wooden panels installed in a random arrangement adds a dramatic effect to the entire project. Two translucent glass plates provide luminosity to the bathrooms and punctuate the wooden wall on the 2nd and...

17 October 2016

by Giovanni Guillabert

Canari house

An athletic young couple wants to transform a fourplex to create their primary residence, while maintaining a rental unit on the first floor. The existing part of the house, dating from the 1930s, is restored on the street side, and the attached garage is restructured to match, as well as to accommodate the new outdoor terrace perched on its roof. Topped with an angular wooden structure, this volume breaks up the perpendicular volumetry of the corner building and allows gardens to nestle into its interstices. Large bay windows overlooking the north-facing garden bring maximum light to the living areas and show off the striking colour of the stairway. As a focal point of the interior composition, the stairway brings a warm and vibrant tone to the project. The layout of this sculptural object, playing with diagonal lines, is the central dynamic element of the Canari house. A black band defines circulation through...

12 July 2016

by Giovanni Guillabert

Saint-André Residence

The Saint-André residence is located on a heritage street of Le Plateau Mont-Royal, and the project consisted in adding a modern extension on the back alley side while retaining the character of the built environment on the street side. We transformed the early-20th-century duplex into a single-family dwelling, with the intent of creating a bright, open-space house. The extension allowed for the addition, on the ground floor, of a vast kitchen that opens up on the garden, and on the second floor, of a cantilever master suite built on the corner of the house. This protruding structure creates intimacy in the night spaces as well as a dynamic volume above the yard. The back of the house is mostly covered in red brick as a reminder of the materiality of the existing house, and the siding for the cantilever is made of black layered fiber cement panels cut in diamond shapes, which...

8 June 2016

by Giovanni Guillabert

Mc Culloch Residence

The project was carried out in an old residence built at the foot of Mount Royal around the 1860s for Dr. McCulloch, after whom the avenue would later be named. The residence was subsequently divided into two houses. The project aimed to expand one of the two divisions so the owners would have a new kitchen and an art studio. The sharp shape of the extension is dictated by the land’s angle setbacks. Its black materials echo the nuances of the works of art made by the owner, a graphite pencil artist, and interact with the grey stones of the century-old house. Like a sculpture, the bricked ground floor acts as a base for the studio, which is covered with black zinc cladding. Vertical steel screens create intimacy on the street angle while revealing Mount Royal’s forest behind. Inside, special attention was given to transitions in materials to foster a flowing perception of...

1 December 2015

by Giovanni Guillabert

Bic Residence

In the Rimouski region, close to the Bic National Park, the clients own of a small house located on the heights of the village that they wish to extend while retaining a trace of its presence. Their new needs lead to completely transform and enlarge the original house. Two volumes of wood and steel are juxtaposed in an L shape to the existing volume coated in brick, now containing the entry,office space and living room. The two new volumes host the kitchen and dining room on the ground floor and the bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor. The two new overlapping boxes protrude towards the edge of the forest allowing to insert a new terrace overlooking the garden.Double height volumes flooded with natural light are thus defined at the junction of the three boxes. Organizing the inner space, they delineate picture frame onto the surrounding landscape. A color palette...

1 January 2015

by Giovanni Guillabert

In Suspension

The client wants to transform the last two levels of a building to create living spaces for her two athletically inclined children, who are now grown adults. The primary goal is to create a shared living space in which all utilitarian functions are shared but which still allows each person to have privacy. The architectural concept consists in removing the floor currently separating the two levels to create a wide-open space in which two large boxes appear to float in mid-air. These suspended boxes, adorned with unfinished plywood panels, each contain a bedroom and a bathroom. This configuration creates three gaps, each being two floors high; the centre gap becomes a physical exercise room with a pair of gymnastics rings. The whole structure is connected lengthwise by a block that is painted black; the block accommodates different services, including stairways, a shower room and part of the kitchen. A large...

1 January 2014

by Giovanni Guillabert

Drolet Residence

A couple with a passion for cooking acquired a house on Drolet street right by Montreal’s Jean-Talon market. They wanted to do a complete renovation and re-organization of the house and had 2 main demands; firstly they wanted a large kitchen island to be the focal point of the house, and secondly they wanted their living spaces on the second floor where they would benefit from more natural light, while keeping the more intimate bedroom spaces on the ground floor. The front door opens onto a double height entry foyer where a sculptural stair draws the focus upwards. The lines of the stair invite the natural and fluid transition from the ground floor entrance to the living spaces above. The open plan kitchen, living and dining room are found on the brightly lit second floor. These are all organized around a long linear island topped by a beautiful soap stone countertop....

1 January 2014

by Giovanni Guillabert

Closse Residence

This suburban home on Montreal’s south shore was built by the father of our client in the 1960’s. After over 50 years without having much work done, it was in need of some rejuvenation. The original house lacked natural light and had a series of closed rooms surrounding a central stair. The first move was to open the south facade with large glazed patio doors. Removing the original partitions let the light penetrate deeply into the house. A new sculptural stair built of hot rolled steel, maple veneer, and frosted glass becomes the focal point of the house. The counter of the central island in the kitchen cantilevers 2.4 meters out from the cabinets becoming the dining table, uniting preparation and eating spaces. Two pivoting glass doors close off the entry creating a winter vestibule. The immense stone fireplace was conserved and restored. It’s textured materiality contrasts with the purity...

1 January 2014

by Giovanni Guillabert

Dulwich Residence

The clients had outgrown their 1920’s house on a large lot on Montreal’s south shore. They wanted a contemporary extension that would harmonize with their existing house and highlight and expose the structural brick. The existing house and the extension were separated by a glazed volume where the vertical circulation of the house is located. The existing house was re-organized to better suit the needs of the clients, where the entry and living room make up the ground floor and the children’s quarters on the second floor. Three double height spaces link the communal areas of the ground floor with the more private spaces of the second floor while maintaining a warm atmosphere in the house. The extension is organized into 2 intertwining volumes. A brick volume makes up the base and becomes the support for a steel clad volume that projects out into the backyard. The ‘sleeping basket’ is...